…and trying to stay on the bucking horse.
Well, let’s start with my header image. About ten years ago several of us were posting daily sketches to each other and this is one of mine. Just water colour on a scrap of paper; I was trying to catch the drama of an approaching storm.
No storm today. But it is windy. [insert as many expletives as you like…I’m too busy planting things]
Mostly, herbs and cuttings that have languished since summer! I don’t want to go overboard as the plan, now very much long-term, is still to go back to NZ. But that’s going to be dictated by the pandemic.
In the meantime…I am sifting through photos and looking at the garden centre offerings because The Great Garden Photo Show and Tell is fast approaching. Yesterday, I popped across to The Inexplicable One’s place, as he’s now hosting this jolly flower fest. I think the expression, “lift your game”, applies particularly to me. le sigh…
Here’s a cat-herb combo, just to get us in the mood…
I’ve been faffing around with this “new” format and it’s doing my head in! I expect I’ll get used to things and will eventually figure out how to write a simple post without inadvertently including weird instructions…
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Moreidlethoughts Weblog 
Where in NZ do you plan to escape to? Wherever it is I know I’ll be envious. Hopefully we’ll soon be free to spread our wings and go places. Spring is here thank goodness, the days are delightfully warm and the garden is going crazy. So many flowers, so many weeds, and the bandicoots are wreaking havoc on what passes for lawns here. Hundreds of large holes make walking through the garden very treacherous, so I’m not particularly fond of our protected native marsupial at the moment. Happy gardening, Di!
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Oh, Carol! (sorry) I have no idea. Most of the places I used to know and loved have become millionaire getaways…and, anyway, we can’t go anywhere till borders open!
We don’t have bandicoots here, but the possums are making a bit of a ruckus now as young fellas start to become active.Grasshoppers are the biggest pest right now.But Stanley’s doing his best to keep ’em under control!
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Love the cat/herb combo.
And don’t we ALL have to lift our game where the garden is concerned? Always.
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True.But some days it seems even harder!
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Ooh, I like the new header image. It made me immediately look out of the window to make sure it wasn’t a prophetic vision – thankfully, it’s blue skies all the way here (at last!).
I’m glad to hear that some game lifting has begun – I’ve missed seeing your (big) cat infested jungle. Although, cat infested mint (or whatever that is) will do for now…
Oh, and for anyone who is interested in joining in, here is a link to the latest reminder of – as Dinah puts it – “The Great Garden Show and Tell”.
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Thank you for linking.Could we add date? Because some duffers (glares at a mirror) are not sure when this is going to happen.,,
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Oh, yes – a date. Well, I haven’t decided on a specific date just yet, except that it will be at the end of October/beginning of November – possibly beginning on Hallowe’en?
Also, depending on the number of entries, I’m not sure if it will be just one big post featuring everyone’s garden photos, or a series of posts – one per blog garden/balcony/house plant/potato?
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Drat! I missed the “photo” bit: The Great Garden PHOTO Show and Tell.
P.S. Returning to New Zealand – How exciting! Is it going to be as soon as is practical after the borders are open, or does long term mean in a couple of years or so?
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We don’t know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sodding plague!
Maybe we’ll still be here when the next garden competition comes around? But I have wrote on the wall…end of Oct/beginning ofNov.
Actually, my writing on the wall looks like Beginthbeguinearden…. “It bring back a night of tropical splendour…”
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Well, Jon’s could take up a whole page Yours, too, especially if you sneak in some cliff-top. I’d better start flinging some moo-poo
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Haha! I find this new format difficult as well. Love the photo. And I think my little vegetable garden is pretty much done and I need to clean it up, too. It’s getting very weedy back there.
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Oh! I was hoping for full photo reveal…I guess you’ve been so busy with rings and things.
As for mine…^54!**!@#!!! It’s really not a pretty sight! In fact, I’m wondering how much “cheating” I can get away with. 🙂
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Love the header, Dinah!!!!
I think it’s me that has to lift my game, I am not very good at this gardening game. I will take a picture of some abstract greenery and a cute animal and hopefully I will get away with that.
Sx
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Scarlet, Rockyann went from hard-packed ground to edibles, so I’m sure you’ll cope. You have a Big Pink Bush out there somewhere!
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So sorry about the postponement of the move…sod’s law, isn’t it. You make up your mind and they close the borders. Still, you’ve escaped the risk of being put in a coronavirus concentration camp.
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Oh they’ve been buggering about with this for ages. A friend emailed me instructions on how to get through the “old” way, but I don’t think even that works now. If you read Ian (the “Cardinal”) today he is less than impressed!
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We have a “new format” editor about to hit Blogger too. Typically, it looks like crap, isn’t user-friendly and is totally incompatible with anyone still using the older version, but it works on mobile phones, which is all that matters to people these days. Sigh. I shall wait for the “eleventh hour” before I change over.
Anyway, on to nicer things – gardens. As per usual, we’re just watching ours start to show signs of Autumn just as you’re dealing with Spring growth. However, all-in-all (pandemics, lock-downs and isolationism aside) it has been a very good year for our bloomers. A mild winter, a glorious Springtime, followed by a typical British summer of ups and downs has given everything a good crack of the whip for a change. Not quite the jungle you live with, admittedly, but…
I’m looking forward to the “Grand Autumn Garden Show”, but will try and be selective with our photos as I wouldn’t want Mr DeVice to get in a tizz.
I look forward to seeing “the Drag Queen” again!
Jx
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After she’s flowered I MUST take the top off the Queenie;I’d meant to do it months ago, but illness put the mockers on that. But will have to get it done before summer storms as it’s now too near big windows!
As for hyper-improvements to suit bloody phone users…grrrr!
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I do love your new header! I figure I’ll send in my snaps of the green ions I’m growing from the white bits of store-bought! And perhaps the Italian Flatleaf Parsley I repotted that seems to be growing nicely! xoxo
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Uh that was supposed to be “green onions” …
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I had TWO small heads of celery coming along…then Sporran sat on one [see pic, above!] And I’ve just planted more parsley seedlings as we go through such a lot. Both Italian and old curly.I look forward to seeing your green ions! (I know what you mean)
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Ah, I see you have lush crop of the rare “black catmint”😬 Sorry! But when I saw that nobody else had made that comment, I felt obliged.
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Amanda! Lovely to see you again! Hope you’re coping with the trauma in the southern parts?
Ooh! That didn’t read quite as I intended! people, I mean that Amanda is quite close to the QLD/NSW border so has more possible virus outbreaks than us in the North.
The black mint is very resilient. Just as well!
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We are going fine in the southern parts, thanks Di. My stress levels rise every time there’s a new cluster, but our friend Anna clamps down like a vice, and the numbers improve, and my adrenaline settles down. It is starting to become boring that we can’t pop over the border to northern NSW to our favourite holiday location but it’s much worse for many others, including my nephew who lives in Melbourne. In fact most of my family are now in Melb or NSW, so I am hoping for some improvement by Christmas. I know I am not alone there! NZ sounds exciting but can’t say I envy you the relocation. Best of luck with it all!
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Mme Premiere is adamant she will not open the border.And I am not sorry. And we are not a major city.At least until summer holidays
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Seems we’re not alone in using the ‘stuck at home’ time to plan a relocation – ours is a bit less challenging, but i’m up to my nuggets in boxes for the foreseeable future! May the planning provide the much needed “something to look forward to”. Right now, i just want to fast forward through my current episode, and get to the next season, where Studley and i are drinking bourbon around a fire pit in our yard, listening to the sounds of mosquitoes being sent to their deaths in the bug zapper! Xoxoxo
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I know what you mean! For yonks, I’ve had a mountain of stuff to go to a charity shop…but social distancing means they are all closed. Sad, as the people who need such things are the very ones who cannot work.
Looks like another scorcher ahead of us this summer… where do I find that FF switch!!
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